Flight

After launch the
Soyuz TM-3 maneuvered from an initial 231 x 217 km
orbit to
MIR's 311 x 359 km orbit.Following a two day solo
flight
Soyuz TM-3 docked the with the rear port of the
MIR space station on July 24, 1987. The spacecraft
automatically docked to the
Kvant1
port, but they had to use a lever to break the hatch's seal.

Among other tasks, they
carried out a series of measurements on the Bosra experiment, designed
to obtain new information on the physical processes at work in the upper layers
of the atmosphere and in the ionosphere, while yet another installation, the
Ruckey, was used to purify genetically-engineered interferon and a drug to
combat influenza. The purpose of yet another installation on
MIR, Svetlana, was to isolate active
microorganisms producing antibodies for use in stock farming.

The
results of the Euphrates experiment were keenly awaited in Syria. While
flying over that country, the cosmonauts carried out a series of visual
observations, photographed its territory and performed a spectrometric survey.
The data they collected would make it possible, with more accuracy, to define
Syria's agro-resources, and help both geologists and hydrologists.

One
of the experiments requiring special and unique care involved the use of the
Kristallizator furnace. Even during designated rest periods, it had been
determined that any movements by the cosmonauts could create sufficient
vibrations to affect the delicate crystallization process. In the case of
MIR, experimental work would not be carried out in the
space station itself, but in one of the specially equipped experimental modules
docked with it.

Syrian guest cosmonaut Muhammed
Faris and Soviet cosmonaut Aleksandr
Viktorenko returned to Earth in
Soyuz TM-2 with Aleksandr
Laveykin, who was diagnosed by ground based doctors as having
minor heart problems.

The
Soyuz spacecraft is composed of three elements
attached end-to-end - the Orbital Module, the Descent Module and the
Instrumentation/Propulsion Module. The crew occupied the central element, the
Descent Module. The other two modules are jettisoned prior to re-entry. They
burn up in the atmosphere, so only the Descent Module returned to
Earth.Having shed two-thirds of its mass, the
Soyuz reached Entry Interface - a point 400,000 feet
(121.9 kilometers) above the Earth, where friction due to the thickening
atmosphere began to heat its outer surfaces. With only 23 minutes left before
it lands on the grassy plains of central Asia, attention in the module turned
to slowing its rate of descent.Eight minutes later, the spacecraft was
streaking through the sky at a rate of 755 feet (230 meters) per second. Before
it touched down, its speed slowed to only 5 feet (1.5 meter) per second, and it
lands at an even lower speed than that. Several onboard features ensure that
the vehicle and crew land safely and in relative comfort.Four parachutes,
deployed 15 minutes before landing, dramatically slowed the vehicle's rate of
descent. Two pilot parachutes were the first to be released, and a drogue chute
attached to the second one followed immediately after. The drogue, measuring 24
square meters (258 square feet) in area, slowed the rate of descent from 755
feet (230 meters) per second to 262 feet (80 meters) per second.The main
parachute was the last to emerge. It is the largest chute, with a surface area
of 10,764 square feet (1,000 square meters). Its harnesses shifted the
vehicle's attitude to a 30-degree angle relative to the ground, dissipating
heat, and then shifted it again to a straight vertical descent prior to
landing.The main chute slowed the
Soyuz to a descent rate of only 24 feet (7.3 meters)
per second, which is still too fast for a comfortable landing. One second
before touchdown, two sets of three small engines on the bottom of the vehicle
fired, slowing the vehicle to soften the landing.

The spacecraft
undocked from
MIR at 08:34
UTC on July 29, 1987. The Orbital Module was
jettisoned before retrofire and left in a 308 x 356 km orbit.
Soyuz TM-2 landed at 01:04
UTC with the crew of Muhammed
Faris, Aleksandr
Laveykin and Aleksandr
Viktorenko aboard.